Councils pay out £1600 a day for pothole damage

Councils across Scotland are spending more than £1600 a day compensating drivers whose cars have been damaged by potholes, figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives have shown.

Motorists were reimbursed to the tune of £584,745 in 2012/13, with the five-year total now standing at more than £2.7 million.

Last year, North Lanarkshire Local Authority was forced to settle almost £14,500 worth of claims, bringing the total amount paid out to £72,259 over the last five years.

The statistics were obtained by the Scottish Conservatives through Freedom of Information.

Central Scotland and Scottish Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell said: “Road surfaces should be well maintained and kept in good condition not least because investment in that would very much reduce the cash paid out by local authorities, like North Lanarkshire, in future.

“More worryingly still is the fact that the true damage caused by potholes is likely to be far higher than the amounts revealed.

“This is because many drivers don’t claim for damage as they can’t face going through the official channels to try and recoup the money paid for repairs.”